Lech Lecha - לך לך : "Go out"
Torah : Genesis 12:1-17:27
Haftarah : Isaiah 40:27-41:16
Gospel : Matthew 5-7

Thought for the Week:

It depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring—not only to the adherent of the Torah [i.e. the Jewish people], but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham [i.e. the Gentile believers], who is the father of us all, as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations"—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. (Romans 4:16-17)

Commentary:

Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there, for the famine was severe in the land. (Gen 12:10 ESV)

No sooner did Abram arrive in Canaan than he was faced with famine. Yet Abram did not complain. Instead he bore it patiently and went into Egypt to wait out the famine. Egypt enjoyed the constant Nile river water supply and was therefore able to produce crops even when the rest of her neighbors were parched by drought.

Abraham went into Egypt to blaze the trail for his descendents. This is expressed in the Talmud by the of...